Child of Light
by Emily Carver
Summary: A one-shot of Tess and Emily. Celebrityfan and I wrote this on our forum and so I decided to rewrite it a different way. With a song included, hence the name of the story. I hope you enjoy! Rated T for swearing. Carver/Tess, Carver/Emily and of some Tess/Luke.


**Author's Note:**** So...this story is about Emily, Tess and Carver...This is how it would be if...if...Just read the story...Also, I highly reccomend listening to Child of Light by Mindy Gledhill while reading this. Sets the mood. I-I hope you enjoy...**

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**Child of Light**

Tess and Emily stood outside of the camp, standing guard. Carver was inside of the camp nearby. There were no Lurkers nearby. After a moment of silence, Tess walked a few steps ahead before she turned around to acknowledge her sister. Tess was going to check the side perimeter for any breaches. She clutched the radio as she approached her sister. However, she got this strange feeling in her gut. Like something bad was going to happen. However, she shrugged it off and continued to walk towards her sister.

"I'm gonna go and check the side perimeter. I'll radio you if anything happens." Tess held up her radio, as did Emily. She wasn't too keen on letting her sister go alone but knew her sister could take care of herself well. Tess was the eldest child and was well taught by their dad. However, everytime the two parted ways, Emily always had that horrible sinking feeling that something bad would happen to her. It was always like that ever since she was young. Ever since Emily's hands were burned. She stared at the gloves she always kept on. Her crimson and raven gloves she had been gifted by their late grandmother Serena.

_Did you ever wonder who you are_

_do your ever wonder as you stare into the stars_

_Where you began_

_And how you got this far_

_from home?_

Emily wished that Jasmine wasn't missing and was here to watch out for them again like she had done in the past. She was the best they'd ever had. Someone who had been considered a part of the Carver family. She had always sang their favorite song. It was called Child of Light. It always made them feel better or helped them fall asleep. As she watched Tess continued to get farther as she approached the corner. Emily could remember all the times her and her sister had fun. Emily then remembered something. She radioed Tess and told her to becareful. Tess told her she'd be fine. Emily turned her head the opposite direction and scanned the surrounding area. The sun was high in the sky and there weren't any ash gray clouds in the sky. The sky seemed to be a lovely aero blue.

Tess exhaled and glanced back for a moment. She never knew these days. Any day on this Earth could be her last. Shaking that horrible thought out of her mind, she continued to walk towards the corner, her gun at the ready. As she finally reached the corner, she sucked in a breath. Gripping her gun tightly, she turned the corner. Nothing was there so she breathed a sigh of relief. However, she had made a terrible mistake. A lurker was hiding in the shadows, sitting on the ground. Tess was about to pass by it when it grabbed her ankle with it's boney fingers.

_Have you ever walked along the shore_

_Have you ever seen the water dancing back and forth_

_Did you look inside_

_To see if there was more to life  
_

"AHHHH!" Tess immediately screamed as she tried to shake off the lurker. Emily gasped and rushed over towards where her sister had gone. Tess than saw her sister turn the corner. Now she was fourteen feet away. Just as she tried to dart towards her sister, she forgot about the moaning lurker on her ankle; and tripped. She fell on her back. This gave the lurker the opportunity to crawl on top of her. She now was struggling with it as she saw it gnawing at her. The sight of the lurker's rotten flesh and mossy green teeth. Frantically glancing every direction for her gun, she caught a glimpse of it out of her reach. She did have her radio though. However, that wasn't much use to her. Tess turned her attention to Emily who was frozen in fear and bewilderment.

"EMILY! HELP!" Tess screamed, causing Emily to snap out of her shocked stance and rushed to her sister's aid. She took out her radio as she rushed over. She scanned each signal until she found her father's.

"**_Dad! In need of assistance! Tess is being_** _**attacked!**_" Emily radioed, hoping her father would respond to this desperate need of assistance. Just as she got closer, William immediately responded back._  
_

"**_I'm on my way! Try to get that thing off of her!_**" Carver responded. He was panicking now. Grabbing his gun and his jacket, he rushed out his room and down the stairs. He rushed by people who gave him a rather concerned look but he merely ignored him. He had to get to his daughters immediately before either of them got knabbed. It was bad enough he had to kill Coleen because of a bite but there was no way he was losing his own children. Never again.

_There's a dream taking wings_

_There's a voice that wants to sing_

_Even in the deepest darkest night_

Emily aimed her gun at the walker, dropping the walkie talkie and squeezed the trigger.

...

Though nothing happened. But why...? 'Oh no...' She gasped in realization as she saw why the gun didn't fire.

"SHIT!" Emily hissed angrily as she attempted to fix her gun. It had jammed. At the worst possible time. She continued to try and fix the gun when a gunshot rang out. Emily snapped her head from the gun and saw the walker fall limp against Tess' chest. Tess was even shocked when she witnessed the person who had just saved her life. Carver stood there, a pissed off face at the lurker as he threw it off his daughter. He extended his hand and helped her off the ground. She stood from the ground, wiping the dust and chunks of brain from off her persona. Emily rushed over and hugged her sister whom hugged back.

"You alright, Tessie?" He asked, looking at Tess with concern etched in his face. Tess nodded her head which caused them to sigh in relief. However, when Emily parted from her sister, her smile faded. Her whole body tensed up as she saw a mark on her arm. It was oozing her blood. Emily covered her mouth in disbelief.

"Emmy? What's wro- no...Oh no..." Tess started until she saw the bite on her arm. The shock overwhelmed her as she looked at the other two Carvers. William could not believe what he was seeing. His eldest child who he loved, was going to die.

_The Torch is raised to the sky_

_There are hands that hold it high_

_You were born to keep it burning bright_

_You were made to fly you were meant to shine_

_Child of light_

"NO!" Emily cried out, collapsing on her knees, unable to believe what she'd just discovered. Tess was infected...

Carver shook his head in disbelief..."No," He whispered in despair, "Not Tess...Why God...WHY?!" William yelled angrily. He turned away and walked towards the lurker that had doomed his daughter. Raising his foot as high as he wanted, he slammed it down on the lurker's head. Blood spouted from it's head as William continuously pounded the life from the undead lurker. Taking out his knife, he squatted and began to stab at the lurker's still corpse repeatedly.

" . . .HELL!" Carver screeched towards the already lifeless corpse, stabbing it one more time before stepping away from it, calming down. They all stared at the now horrifically mutilated corpse of the lurker. Emily and William looked at Tess who frowned. Her face then saddened at the realization that death would consume her soon. Another victim of this hellish world. Emily stood up from her knelt position and looked at the now blood covered father of hers with fear.

_You will never ever stand alone_

_You were never called to bare your burdens alone_

_Where there's fear_

_Love will take control_

_And lead you on  
_

"What are we going to do?" Emily and Tess asked their father. He looked at them, shaking his mind off the anger he felt for the destroyed monstrosity on the ground. William then turned to them completely, contemplating on their next action. Finally, after a long while, he finally decided their course of action.

"We're going to wait." Carver stated with simplicity. When he spoke like that, he always meant every word he said. Both girls nodded their heads and looked towards one another. Both their eyes filled with tears as they hugged one another. William watched his children hugged one another and felt a pang of guilt coursed through his entire being and hugged the two sisters tight. None of them wanted this horrifying reality to happen but it actually was going to, whether they liked it or not.

William walked towards the door and opened it. He allowed the two now not crying girls to enter first. Following behind them, he shut the door and walked right behind them. As quickly as they could, they gathered everyone that meant something to them. Kenny, Clem, Nick, Luke, Bonnie, Sarita, Carlos, Sarah and Rebecca were the ones they gathered. Once they headed to the expansion, Kenny was the first to speak his mind.

"Alright, what the fuck is goin' on? We were all pretty goddamn busy." Kenny asked angrily. The others agreed with his statement. His arms crossed over his jacket as he stared down William Carver again. Emily looked at Kenny whom immediately backed down.

"We...We have some terrible news. Tess here has been...Bitten." Carver told them all slowly. Everyone in the room gasped. However, the world seemed to slow down for Luke. Tess was the love of his life. She was everything to him. Hell, even little Peter was something to him. Now his own other half was going to die. He felt like another part of him was dying as well. Luke's face fell and went void of any emotion at that moment. Everyone heard the large thud he made as his knees failed him. Once landing on the concrete ground, he stared at the ground blankly. What came next surprised all of them. It also scared the crap out of them all.

_There's a dream taking wings_

_There's a voice that wants to sing_

_Even in the deepest darkest night_

Luke chuckled darkly. Everyone stared at him with confused faces. Tess was concerned by the way her lover was acting. Suddenly, Luke started to laugh crazily. Clementine hid behind Kenny who held her back protectively. Carlos ordered Sarah to get behind him. Tess began to approach Luke carefully.

"Luke? Sweetie? Why are you acting like this?" As soon as she asked the question, Luke looked directly at her. He had this weirdly creepy grin plastered on his face. Tess recoiled in fear. He moved towards her, pulling her to her knees. He stared at her, his eyes seeming hollow.

"Why? Why?! Well...Y-You're gonna die...Heh...Just because of some fuckin' lurker bite and we ain't got no more time to deal with that...Heh heh...I'll be alone without ya sweetie...A-and I'll g-go fuckin' crazy without someone in my life." Luke told her with a bigger grin forming. Tess stared at him, fright on his face. She reached her hand out to touch his shoulder.

"Luke, honey you're not-"

"DON'T TOUCH ME!" Luke yelled, moving back slightly in surprise. Tess stared at him, tears in her eyes. Luke stared at her for a moment before shaking his head, realizing he just snapped in front of his lover. He hugged her close and comforted her.

"Aww shit! I am so sorry Tessie. I ain't mean to snap like that...It's just...I ain't wanna lose ya!" Luke cried. He held her close and actually cried in her hug. She rubbed his back and whispered soothing words into his ear. Now after the strangest moment any of them had just experienced, they decided to spend the rest of the day trying to make Tess as comfortable as possible on her last day being with the living.

_The Torch is raised to the sky_

_There are hands that hold it high_

_You were born to keep it burning bright_

_You were made to fly you were meant to shine_

_Child of light_

Hours past by and Tess became sicker and sicker. Eventually, she got so sick, that she couldn't stand any longer. Kenny and William carried Tess up to her room in the community and laid her gently on the bed. She coughed up some blood and Emily rushed to her side. She dropped to Tess' side and held her non bitten arm. Tess' breathing became heavily laboured. She was running out of time. Carlos came up to her with a cloth and wiped the blood away from her mouth. Luke held little Peter in his hand. Peter was sleeping peacefully while Luke cried on the other side of the room.

William watched everyone crowd around her. Sarita and Carlos were both giving her silent prayers to live well in the afterlife. Clementine held Kenny's hand. William stared at the duo who seemed to look mostly at the sobbing form of Emily. She had admitted to him that Kenny and Clementine had been with her in the beginning months of the Apocalypse. After Kenny and the rest of her group, besides Clementine went missing, they stayed together for almost three whole years. Emily knew Kenny and Clementine as family during this shit time.

William then looked at Sarita who had stepped away from Tess and was comforting Rebecca whom was crying her eyes out. Sarita seemed like the woman he could get along well with. However, she was also Kenny's lover. Sarita was a kind and rather forgiving woman who helped anyone in need of assistance. Rebecca was the person he had messed up. He felt guilty about it and what was worse was how the baby ended up being Carver's. He wished he hadn't done that.

Then there was Carlos and Sarah. A father and daughter. It was like him, a father but with two daughters and a son. Thanks to him Emily had a half sibling. Shaking the thought out of his mind, he stared towards Emily, his pride and joy. She was a pure sobfest. Immediately, he put a gun beside her and she looked at him. Both knew what this meant. William told everyone to leave, even he was asked to leave by his own daughter.

"Go on and wait outside." Emily told her father, whom still remained in the room. William's eyes widened by her statement. She continued.

"I only need a minute...Go on. You don't need to see this..." Emily finished. William felt his eyes sting with tears. However, he nodded and walked out of the room where his two daughters were.

_There's a dream taking wings_

_There's a voice that wants to sing_

_Even in the deepest darkest night  
_

Emily approached her dying sister with tears. However, she kept a straight face as she checked the amount of bullets in the gun. Only one bullet. Emily began to pick the gun up when Tess stopped her.

"N-No...Not a-a bullet...C-crush..." Tess breathed out heavily. Emily's head snapped up and nodded mutely. She looked around the room and spotted a crowbar. It was stained in dried walker blood but she did not care. Picking it up, she grasped it in her hands for a couple of seconds. Turning back to her sister she approached with the blunt object.

"It's gonna get messy..." Emily warned her dying sister who chuckled, a weak smile appearing on her face.

"I know..." Tess coughed up some more blood but needed to get her final statement out of her head.

"I-I need you to promise me...T-take care of Peter and L-Luke...and tell dad that I forgive him...a-and that I..." Emily waited for her sister to finish.

_The Torch is raised to the sky_

_There are hands that hold it high_

_You were born to keep it burning bright_

"...l..o..v..e...h..i..m.." Just as Tess finished her statement, Emily brought down the raised crowbar.

"_You were made to fly you were meant to shine...__Child of light..._"

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**Author's Note: I hoped you enjoyed this story...Because this made me cry as I wrote it. Bye...**

**And remember to Keep Your...**

**Pineapples...  
On...  
Venus...**


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